Senior Tyler Helmond will be graduating in May with a degree from IU Bloomington's Division of Labor Studies, and he could be the last person to do so. The very department where Helmond has been an undergraduate teaching assistant for the past two years faces potential closure on all of IU's six campuses - including Bloomington. \nHelmond said he e-mailed President Adam Herbert last week opposing the school's closing. He added that it seems illogical to close a program that was founded at IU in the 1940s and continues to serve a vital interest. \n"I would suggest that the faculty in the Kinsey Institute begin to polish their resumes if this is how we keep things 'red hot' at IU," Helmond said in an e-mail. \nIf the DLS has not found a new home for itself by June 30, all tenure-track faculty will receive notification of termination that will take affect June 2007, said DLS assistant professor Steven Ashby. In May 2005, six DLS employees, two of whom were tenure-track faculty members, received notices of non-reappointment, according to a letter from Ruth Needleman, DLS professor at IU Northwest.\nHerbert e-mailed Helmond a response to his letter on Monday, saying IU is doing all it can to give the faculty additional time to "consider \norganizational options." \n"No final decisions have been made, but plans are being considered and this fact of open discussion and deliberation may lead to speculation and rumor," he said in the e-mail. "As of now, however, no actions have been taken regarding the future of organization of the Division. If it is fiscally feasible, we will also rescind some or all of the notices of non-reappointment as budget information permits." \nIn response to the DLS' uncertain future, students in the department have started to take notice and respond with action. Nearly 150 students and local union members gathered at IU Northwest in Gary Feb. 21, asking the campus to give the division a home. Like Helmond, students have also started to write letters. \n"By closing the Division, the University is eliminating an important program that contributes to the rich diversity of offerings and viewpoints championed by Dr. (Herman B) Wells," Helmond said. "That legacy will be put in peril if the Division is ultimately closed."
Past financial concerns and finding a new home \nIf the DLS does not find a new central administration by December 2006, the program faces total dissolution or suspension at all of its campus locations in Bloomington, Fort Wayne, Gary, Indianapolis, Kokomo and South Bend. Ashby said he has heard rumors that the DLS would be able to maintain its online course program, but he said nothing is definite. \nIn June 2005, IUPUI Chancellor Charles Bantz notified DLS faculty that the department would need to find a new administrative home, either in a school at IUPUI, where it is currently stationed, or at another regional campus. Following faculty appeal opposing a proposed December 2005 deadline, IUPUI Vice-chancellor William Plater told staff the Division would have until December 2006 to find a new central organization, Ashby said. Lynn Duggan, DLS associate professor, said in an e-mail that she was disappointed by this news.\n"It has been stressful not knowing the future of the program and my colleagues, many of whom received non-reappointment notices last May," Duggan said. "Labor Studies is an institution at Indiana University. It would be very disappointing to see the Division of Labor Studies come to an end." \nFollowing funding cuts from the state legislature that affected all IU departments in the summer of 2005, the DLS formed a committee to address such concerns. After a record-breaking Fall 2005 enrollment of 996 students in the Division's online courses and a Spring 2006 enrollment of 1,220 and growing, the DLS had already exceeded its income goal by more than $200,000 in early January, Ashby said. \n"We would like (the administration) to say that there is no possibility the DLS will be dissolved," Ashby said in an e-mail, "since everyone agrees there is no longer any financial problem with the DLS."
Small program separates from larger school \nPlater said that the division has always been in need of a new administrative home since it separated from the School of Continuing Studies in 1999. Earlier merger plans were stalled, he said, because of the budget reduction that shifted concern toward financial management. \n"The division is too small to remain viable given the size of its faculty, the small number of majors and its state-wide responsibility," Plater said in an e-mail. "Given all the effort being put into program assessment and planning for the unit to survive the financial problem, this is the time to address the structural and organizational issue." \nPlater said the division intended to find another academic home more in-tune with its role when it separated from the School of Continuing Studies. Five years ago, when a new director was hired, the Division moved to IUPUI under Plater, Needleman said. Plater had advocated in the past that it be a distance-learning and workforce development program, she said. \nDuggan said she thinks IU would like to streamline its dealings with Labor Studies. She said that as a small program, it makes sense for the DLS to report to a dean within an existing school. \nOn the other hand, Needleman said she thinks the actions taken against the DLS are politically-motivated. \n"Republicans do not like labor and they dislike even more those of us who help educate adult learners and workers to their rights," she said, adding that Gov. Daniels and his party have talked about passing a number of anti-union legislative initiatives like a Right-to-Work bill. \n"It is short-sighted and sectarian to push this kind of right-wing agenda in a university," she said. \nWhen reached for response, a spokesperson for Bantz declined comment.
Deadline approaches, puts pressure on faculty \nAshby said because the Division is small, the impending deadline puts pressure on the faculty members. Everyone is working hard to build the program, with each professor teaching five or six sections per semester, he said, and they would like to see the administration take the lead in finding a new home for the DLS. \n"We're not opposed to a merger," Ashby added, "but we'd like the administration to contact others. Instead, they're leaving it up to us." \nPlater said that IUPUI campus administration, the University's Academic Leadership Council and the IUPUI Faculty Governance Leadership have all played a part in helping faculty to address the Division's financial and program issues. \nNeedleman said that she thinks the administration has been giving the DLS the run-around. \n"We are being told to find a new home," she said. "The administration has made sure that no one will talk to us." \nNeedleman said she does not expect IU administration officials to help labor studies stay at IU. \n"The only possibility we have heard about is with a non-IU school," she said, referring to the possibility that the DLS could be transferred to a school within Purdue University. "We have no idea whatsoever how we could be passed off to another institution. We know very little at this time"
